For anyone who wants to witness what can go wrong when government is blatantly out of control, all they need to do is observe the city of Naperville’s dealings with its residents. One example is how the city of Naperville is bullying the good citizens of Naperville with subpoenas and threatening the use of security guards (allegedly armed) when forcing residents to accept so-called Smart Meters that the citizens of Naperville clearly do not want. As mentioned in a previous posting, if ‘Jesus’ Himself were to appear in front of the city council and request the city to stop its Smart Meter bullying, the city would deny His request. Furthermore, it’s likely He would be asked to leave the meeting and be lead away and out of the building by police force. The city of Naperville truly has no shame. There appears to be absolutely nothing the city of Naperville will not do to silence citizen opposition.

Members of the Naperville Smart Meter Awareness group circulated petitions requesting a non-binding referendum to be placed on the March ballot requesting in essence the city stop the installation of the meters and to dismantle the intrusive technology. In a very short period of time, about 30 petition circulators obtained more than 4,200 signatures supporting the referendum. Now keep in mind that it is simply a non-binding referendum which means even if every voter wanted to stop the installation, the city would not have to honor their vote and the city could continue on its merry-way and do what they want with total disregard for the residents; so the city can’t lose. If the referendum is voted down, then again the city wins. It is a no-lose situation for the city; however, this is not good enough for them. The bottom line is that the city does not want the residents to vote on the referendum because there is strong probability the installation will be voted down. They would still install them, but the Naperville city council would look even worse than they do now, which in itself is an amazing feat.

The last time the city of Naperville allowed its citizens to vote on referendums( 2010), the city council was shocked that the fine folks of Naperville voted by a landslide in favor of term limits and district representation. This is still causing the city council problems even with their delaying tactics. Is it any surprise that the last thing the city wants is another citizen-opportunity to vote for what the citizens want?

The fewer the issues up for a vote, the better it is for the city council. Additionally the fewer the number of residents who vote, the better it is for the city council. Is it any wonder why the city wants to be totally transparent; with total transparency, the citizens can’t see anything.

With thousands of residents signing the petition for the referendum to be on the ballot and considering the council is not enthusiastic about citizens voting, the council ‘was ready’ to put it up for a vote, unless as a council member mentioned during the last council meeting, someone files an objection to the referendum. Miraculously one person a few days later files an objection to the referendum; what a stroke of luck for the city of Naperville, just what they needed, one person to trump the wishes of thousands. It just so happens that the objector is a member of a group (Naperville for Clean Energy and Conservation) that gets SECA funds ($1,856 citizen tax dollars) from the city, what a stroke of coincidence. What an astonishing stroke of good fortune for the city council.

The objection to the referendum is heard by the Naperville Electoral Board consisting of the Mayor of Naperville (supporter of Smart Meters, Council member Doug Krause (supporter of Naperville citizens), and the Naperville City Clerk, an appointed position), so that looks like a ‘stacked deck’ against the citizens. In fact, on Friday the ‘stacked’ Board approved granting requests to subpoena the circulators of the petitions; legal but shameful. Let me repeat this….they want to subpoena the good folks who invested their time and effort by getting involved in civic responsibility; by doing a commendable action, they are being legally harassed for doing the right thing. The definition of subpoena is a judicial writ requiring a person to appear at a specified time and place under penalty of law for default. It makes no difference if the petition circulator is in the hospital, on vacation, on a business trip, or doing a missionary trip the actions of one person supported by the Naperville Electoral Board will legally bully citizens into submission.

Is it any wonder why good folks distrust government, politicians, and especially the Naperville city council. If ever there was a more accurate word to associate with the Naperville city council, it was the word used by Council person Grant Wehrli when he used the word ‘nefarious’ when referring to actions in the council; ‘it’s how government works’. Suggestion to parents: keep your children away from the Naperville city council.

How blessed are the members of Naperville city council that all this could happen. You would think they would give a collective ‘thank you’ to the very person they would throw out of the council chambers.

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